Community First Responders (CFRs) all live within the community and volunteer a minimum of 20 hours a month of their spare time to be available for selected 999 calls to help other members of the community.

Volunteers must be at least 18 years. They must have access to a car, have held a UK full driving licence for at least one year, have no more than 3 penalty points and be able to attend emergency calls from either their home or place of work as soon as they are received.

While a CFR is on-call they can continue with their normal day to day activities whilst at home but must be ready to drop everything and attend a call should one arise.

A CFR needs to be extremely reliable and trustworthy, good under pressure, able to remain calm in emergency situations, be caring when dealing with patients and have a good level of physical fitness.

Recruitment for these roles is handled via the NHS Jobs website, which advertises CFR positions on a needs-based priority system.  It is worthwhile keeping an eye on the website to see when positions become available.  For more information on the role please visit the South East Coast Ambulance website.